Topic: **REWARD** Help me restore my wallet!! (Read 581 times)

That's not entirely true... What happens is that Electrum simply blanks out the clipboard when you click "next" to goto the seed entry screen, so if you try copy/paste, you'll end up "pasting" an empty string into the box...

Unfortunately, what happens is that if you click "back", Electrum will actually generate a completely new random seed... invalidating the previous one. (Sidenote: I have a suspicion that this may explain how some people end up with multiple seeds written down or copying down the wrong seed etc.)

Anyway, what you can do to copy/paste, is that you can first copy/paste the seed to an external application (like notepad etc) and then click next... the clipboard gets wiped but you can simply go back to the external app and copy the seed from there and then paste it back into Electrum


Electrum requires you to re-enter the seed to confirm it... so you can't just next/next/next/accept etc... you would have had to have copied the seed and then either typed it back it manually or used the hacky copy/paste method I described above

Lot's of users in the past have copy/pasted into .txt documents, or taken screenshots... and ended up losing funds as a result of this... but, poor security practices aside, TheBeardedBaby was simply suggesting that you might want to look through any recovered .txt and image files to see if maybe you had done something similar. It's not guaranteed, but it's worth a shot.

Yep, it could been saved somewhere else. The thing is that I couldnt find nothing like wallet, **wal**, **let** or something like that

I'll scalpel whole HDD and let you know the results guys.

Thanks a lot

If you don't know exactly the drive that has the seed phrase or even have little doubt about it, I recommend try whole HDD for scalpel. It's maybe time consuming but helps to know that the file is corrupted or not.  

Edit:
After using scalpel, most probably, it'll return many mixed format files(bin+text) and you can read them with a text viewer e.g. Notepad but if you know those seeds that you have control of them now, you can save time also.
P.S. Did you give a password to the wallet?

Edit2: Phrases have been corrected.

Maybe you saved your wallet not in default folder, maybe under Documents/ or something like this. Do you remember if you applied a password on your wallet?

Hey man, thanks again for replying

Yep, I did install again electrum, and what happens is that it suggest you a default (I suppose randomly generated) seed phrase

That why I said I likely did Next/Next/Accept?Yes to all shit xD

Will try your new suggestion as well, and this scalpel stuff. (requires time copying stuff)

Thanks again!

PS: What pisses me off is that I have Electrum folder with stuff inside, but not wallet folder. Why? Because that specified memory were deleted in the format but not adjacent files/folders?  Did I move this folder somewhere else? Dont think so. The electrum version I was using did work the same way like the current one? No clue. Anyway, we keep going!

You cannot copy/paste the seed, you literally have to type it in but probably you didn't save the file.
Go make a new installation of electrum, if you haven't done it already, and see if it will ring any bell

Another idea, copy all your recovered files in one folder and use some of these tools to find a specific phrase.  
You can search for "addresses" for example and see what results you gonna get.

https://helpdeskgeek.com/how-to/search-inside-multiple-text-files-at-once/

Hi guys, thanks again for helping me out

I thought that the seed phrase could be stored in the HDD somewhere as well

Almost sure that if the version of electrum I used required the seed phrase, I did something like Next/Next/Next/Accept  (yeh, I didnt care much back then)

Surely I didnt write it down or took a screenshot or summin.

Unafortunately I wasnt able to restore any wallet file/folder...

I'll try to run scalpel and I let you know the result guys.

Thanks a lot

In the process of creating a new wallet, there is a very important step. When you decide what type of wallet you want to create, the next step is to backup your seed. This step is required by Electrum to be able to proceed further with the creation of the wallet.

You need to note somewhere the 12 words seed displayed below in the correct order and then repeat them to confirm that you have backed them up.



That's why I told you that you may be saved the seed in a text file or took a picture. This, of course, is a bad securty practice.

Did you find the wallet file OP? If not try the following:

1- Download and execute “HDD raw copy tool” for copying your entire HDD to a raw image file to your another HDD.
2- Download scalpel2 for Windows.
3- Set the config file for scalpel as following(you should change the scalpel.conf for this purpose):
NONE     y       400       "seed": "
4- Run scalpel the_image_file_path -o output_file_path

If you didn’t encrypt the seed by password and didn’t corrupt, you can most probably find the seed.

 Hi try searching for wallet.dat and passwords in .txt or things like .jpg file inside of them. Some may have 12 word phrase. Hope it helps and i could get reward. When you use the restore it program you should for all types of data.
 Thanks

Do you mean the files from Electrum\wallets? Because if you do:
Copy all of these on your main computer where they can be opened and read. This is how a wallet file will look like on a notepad:



The seed phrase will be on the bottom. Although, these files don't have an extension. From what folder did you find those?

Hi guys! Thanks again for all the help

I just realized I've got PLENTY of *.dat and *.txt files!

Any suggestion of what filenames I should look for? (Instead of _wal or something like that wich I've already tried)
Also, the seed phrase could be a picture as someone has suggested?

Wich filename should have? It should be stored as well inside Electrum folder?

Feeling like there is something I could do!

Thanks guys!

That's a good point, I actually never created unencrypted wallet, and it should be a common sense te encrypt and protect your funds with a password.
So my previouse suggestion is not an option here if the encryption of the wallet was introduced in 2017 no point to search for it.

NOTE: Only fully encrypted wallet files start like this... wallet file with no password and wallet files that are "password-protected" but do not use the "Encrypt Wallet File" option just look like standard, plaintext JSON files.

A "password protected" wallet file is created if this box is not checked during the setting of the wallet file password:



Also, wallet encryption was only added in version 2.8.0 - March 2017


NOTE: The password-protected, but not fully encrypted files, still have the private keys and seeds etc stored as encrypted text withiin the plaintext wallet file.

Let me give you another idea. Maybe you will find some unknown files with no name or some gibberish for name which can also be a wallet files.
What you need to do is to sort out all the files and open each on of them to check their source code.
It's simple, you drag the file directly in Notepad and if the source of the file begins with those charachters >

then you might be lucky. All the Electrum wallet files start with QklFMQN (I tested this on a differnt wallet files).
This will be your only clue to find out if you still have the wallet file or not.

Check all the .txt files and pictures for the seed. It's a 12 word seed.

Good luck in recovering those coins.

Electrum stores wallet files in a folder called "wallets" that should be in the same location as the "blockchain_headers", "config" and "recent_servers" files and the "certs" folder as shown in your screenshot here:



If your recovery software does not show the "wallets" folder, then you're likely out of luck

Does your recovery software only allow searching for file names etc? Or does it show a full list of all recoverable files/folders on the drive?

Hi, I already tried that, but didnt get any good results. What software do you recommend to search for this? I have used EaseUS and Wondershre Recoverit

Thanks again!

You're looking for the wrong file names. Try this:

Not what we are looking for...

Hi guys, here are some scheenshots of what I´ve been able to retrieve. These repeated Electrum folders are the same

https://i.postimg.cc/HssL9p9W/unnamed-1.png
https://i.postimg.cc/FR4rdmK4/unnamed-2.png
https://i.postimg.cc/W1gxDZqd/unnamed.png


It is possible to do something with this? REWARD pending! xD

Thanks guys

Do you have structure or only flat files? Do you have original filenames or only temporary names assigned by recovery program?
Show us the screenshot, it would be easier to tell

Unafortunately I didnt remember doing such thing when I first created that wallet

And, unafortunately, there is nothing like wal, _wal, let... inside Electrum folder and anywhere else

Nothing can be done with the files I,ve been able to restore?

Thanks guys for all your help

The seed is in human-readable format and all the addresses and private keys are generated from it. If you have the seed - those 12 words written, then you have what is needed to access the wallet and all those addresses with your coins.
Try to remember where did you save it. Then you don't need to look for wallet files on the old hard drive.

What LoyceV said is the way.. here it is with pictures :
https://bitcoinelectrum.com/restoring-your-standard-wallet-from-seed/

Install Electrum > create a New wallet > Standard wallet > I already have a seed > Enter your seed > Next > wallet restored.

I dont get that. Let's say I got that "seed phrase", what can I do with that? I thought since my wallet was stored locally, there is nothing I can dot but recover those very files

What I have witness during such procedures on a windows computers is that the file names are often corrupted but the files are fine, so looking for something like *wal* could also be a good chance to find something like, wal~ or _wal or ~wal_ I've seen a lot of variations.
Some examples to try.
*wal*
*let*

If Electrum was installed on your system the directory where the wallet files are stored will be "C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Electrum\wallets".  If you were using the standalone version it should have created the "wallets" directory files in the same directory where the executable file is located.

You wont find any file named "seeds."  The Bip32 (and subsequent Bip39) implementation allow us to create a wallet backup "seed phrase."  These mnemonic phrases consist of 12 to 24 common dictionary words.  The phrase would not have been stored on the computer, but rather you would have been instructed (during setup) to write down the phrase and store it someplace safe.  If you have a seed phrase then you can stop searching for the old wallet files.  The phrase can be used to restore your wallet and all your funds.

I can found a folder named Electrum (Was run by windows), i would say I was using the portable version tho.

Couldn't get any file named default_wallet or something like that, not sure If I gave this wallet I name but I'd say I choose the default name

All I got is blockchain_headers, config, recent_servers files and then a "certs" with DNS names and a bitcoins.sk file

Can I do something with this..?

Thanks again for your replies

All I've been able to get anything related to this are a blockcahin_headers file, some bitcoins.sk, a config file and I think I could assume nothing named "wallet" or "seed"

I should probably learn how to do hexadecimal search byte by byte, maybe worth the effort lol


Thanks!!

Try searching for *wallet*.  The first time Electrum creates a wallet it'll name it default_wallet, and all subsequent wallets will be named wallet_1, wallet_2, so on and so forth.  Also try to recall if you had given it another name, such as weedfunds, or some such silliness.

I take it this was before bip32 seed phrase implantation?

On Linux, you'd be looking for a directory called "wallets" inside a directory called ".electrum". Any file inside the wallets-subdirectory is what you're looking for.

It isn’t hard, only you need to use a software/script etc to search deeply(byte by byte) in your HDD for finding the most important info, the seed phrase for example.

Yep, I do know how erasing data from a drive works. But since I do not know how to restore a wallet, and if its even possible with the files I got... just asking

I did my own research but the quality info I reached requires a depth level of understanding about the topic, wich I have not right now

Well looks like I won't be able this, at least not without digging more

Thanks to all anyway

Best

Hi, I think you could have probably a chance to recover it if those important info(seed etc) had not been damaged yet. Before any action, make sure your HDD is in read only(couldn’t write anything) and using your other HDD to install or use softwares/scripts etc and you have a copy of its data as backup. If you are using Gnu/Linux, first try ddrescue to copy from the drive/HDD and then you can use scalpel for searching in the imaged file from ddrescue. You must change scalpel’s conf file for searching for example “seed” phrase in the imaged file. In this level we don’t need to find whole wallet file, maybe it was corrupted but we need only seed phrase.(We know Electrum wallet is text format).

EDIT: I saw, you can use scalpel in Windows also, but I don't know which Windows versions are supported.

Formatting your hard drive doesn't erase data, it just marks the space to be reused.

If you did re-use that space, the chances of your recovering the data without spending obscene amounts of $, is almost zero.  

(I say almost zero because there is a reason wiping programs erase and rewrite a sector multiple times)


Do you not know the address?

Hi there

Thank y'all for your replies. I think I get your point but unafortunately I'm not "that" close to the solution.

I have been able to recover some files like blockchain_headers, bitcoins.sk, a certs folder, everything inside a Electrum folder

I can remember the icon of the software I used to make/receive transactions and how it worked, but couldn recover this file even a *_wallet file.

I used both EaseUS and Wondershare Recoverit

I have no idea if what I'm asking for could be accomplished, that's why I'm asking for some help, I would happily share some BTC if we can get this job done

Cheers!

Did you use any recovery software? if it didn't give you anything, you can test with a script/software that can deeply search your HDD for the wallet file.

What software you are using to recover the files from that hdd? Some free recovery software let you see only documents, pictures and videos. Those won't help you in that quest.
The first thing is to find something reliable to recover the data with. I've been using EaseUS alot before with great results, it costs a bit but if you have a chance to recover the lost coins it should be quite good deal.
As LoyceV said, better focus on finding the seed, think about where you could have store it.

People back in the day were ignoring the security warnings and were saving seed in .txt files or picutres so try to remember, you have a higher chance to find it I think than the file on a hdd.

Right.

Electrum wallet could be encoded with password or not. If not - it is easier, file has JSON format, looks like

Encrypted wallets are base64 encoded, so it looks like a mess (but only with readable characters).
Were you able to retrieve any information about folders? Usually you look for files inside folder.

Have you seen this topic?
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/walletdat-recovery-recover-your-own-lost-bitcoins-22697

Thanks for your answers guys.

The main point is that I couldn´t find any file named wallet, or related. I do have anyway other files that I´m not sure could end up restoring my wallet, that's why I'm asking for help 

Thanks!

The only file you need is your wallet, which might be called "wallet_1" (or anything else you typed yourself). There is no extension by default.
Another angle: when you installed Electrum, it asked you to write down your 12 word mnemonic. Finding those words is enough to restore your wallet too.

Dave's service is to recover a lost password, when you have a wallet already.

Ask Dave https://www.walletrecoveryservices.com/

Hi there! I know this probably has been asked like thousand of times, but I'm here asking personal help

Some years ago I had a electrum wallet when I used to use BTC to buy weed over the darknet (yep) in a HDD. Shit happens, that HDD got formatted to install again Win. I didnt take care much back then, but as you can imagine with the recent BTC rises I tried to restore files from that HDD, and I've been able to recover some related files

I'm a developer myself so I have some background on IT, but my skills are not sharp enough to get this job done, even to actually know if it can be done

If anyone out here is willing to help me in my quest, and we are able to restore some funds from there, I'll reward with a %10 of anything could be there. It could be 2 BTC, it could be 0.1... I'm not sure what we could found it there.

That being said, if you think you are skilled enough to do the job, please just let me know and lets get our hands dirty to get some BTC

Thanks in advance